I recently cooked up a turkey I bought around Thanksgiving. I always get an extra turkey or two, and use it to can soup, meat, turkey stock, and to use in recipes. At 39 cents a pound, I get a lot of food for a great price. Thinking ahead like this, is a perfect example of thrifty homemaking.

I love Mediterranean ingredients, such as olives, feta, artichokes, and roasted bell peppers. Unfortunately, these are not budget-friendly pantry items, but there’s a way around the cost. Why should people with all the extra grocery money laying around have all the good food? I solved the cost issue by purchasing all of these ingredients at Costco, except the red bell peppers, because these, I make at home.

I always feel so guilty throwing vegetable scraps away. I would compost my scraps, but I’m just not there yet. Next year I hope. In the meantime, I’ve found a way to put those vegetable scraps to good use. I have been saving washed carrot peels, celery ends, garlic and onion skins, onion tops, and the like. After I acquired 5 bags of vegetable scraps, and two chicken carcases from roasted chickens we consumed, I tried my first batch. The result was four gallon bags, and a 2 quart container full of stock. That’s alotta stock, and from scraps I would have normally thrown away.

Throughout the site I recommend several products I use for the home. I only recommend products I am excited to use, and that I find essential in my success with projects. I do receive a small commission when a product is purchased through an affiliate link on this site. All recommendations are solely my own.